Asian Palm Civet Skull

The Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is a small, nocturnal mammal found throughout Southeast Asia, including places like India, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It kind of looks like a mix between a cat and a raccoon, with a long, slender body, a pointed snout, and a bushy, ringed tail. Its fur usually ranges from brown to gray, and it often has a lighter belly and a little black mask around its eyes—pretty cute, honestly.

These little guys are excellent climbers and spend a lot of their time in trees, but they’re super adaptable. While they prefer forests and wooded areas, they’re not shy about moving into villages or even cities if there’s food around. They eat all kinds of things—fruits, insects, small animals—you name it. One weirdly famous thing about them is that they eat coffee cherries and poop out the beans, which people then collect and turn into the super expensive kopi luwak coffee. Yeah, it’s a whole thing. Not sure we'd try it but their skulls are pretty neat!